Monday, January 25, 2021

The Interesting Music I Find as I Learn New Songs

One of the more interesting things about what I’m doing musically during COVID is all the requests I’m learning and the process of learning them. I’m a solo guitarist and singer for the most part, and that’s how I approach a song - seeing what the structure of the song is and what the signature licks are that I can express on one guitar and with one voice. It’s sometimes a challenge when a song has a full band and even an orchestra. The rhythms can be tricky, and the vocal parts can be challenging figuring out on some songs what is the melody and the harmony. My favorite place to listen is on YouTube because there is not only the original recorded version (usually from the studio) but also various live versions by the original artist and also many covers both studio and live from people all over the world. That’s where it gets interesting - the rest of the world. There are pockets of the world where learning and recording cover versions of songs must be a favorite pastime because I’m finding especially Asian and Filipino versions of some popular songs that are amazing performances. I know that American culture is popular all over the world, but it’s phenomenal when you find performers who barely speak any English who can sing an English song better than the original singer. So sometimes I use these versions to hear and see a great arrangement or better interpretation of a song that I can base my version on. At the very least I can see the chords they are playing and the position on the guitar so I can figure out what the original player was doing. The talent and ingenuity of folks all over the world is just inspiring and sometimes humbling. So I’ll find one of these performances that I can use the lyrics and chords that I find on the internet to map out my own version of a song. There are even many, many people who give lessons on YouTube who show you how to play the main licks in a song. I’ve used those a few times as well. I should also say that I sometimes start from scratch and learn a song completely from just listening to the original recording. That’s how I used to learn all my songs - playing them from the 45 or LP while I scratched out the lyrics and chords on a piece of paper. But I’m more modern now. Once I have it on my laptop and formatted so I can see the whole song on one screen I can determine if there are better chords than the ones I’ve found online or better voicing to pick up some of the other licks by the group as I hear it. Then I have to listen to the song to get it in my head and make notes on the lyrics with chords on my screen so that I can perform it. Sometimes I have to listen to a song 20 times before all the nuances sink into my head so I can remember them. I don’t write out sheet music although I’m considering it since I sometimes am learning 20 songs a week. I’m not very fast with music notation although I have apps even on my iPad that make it easier and quicker to do. With notation I could at least capture the melody better although there are some things you can’t really capture in notation such as the feel of the rhythm or some of the quick syncopations. Lastly, I have to transpose the song and the licks into a key that’s in my vocal range, and then I rehearse it a few times or many times depending on the complexity of the song. I’m a pretty quick study, but some songs take a lot of work, and then I still mess them up when I perform them with the nerves from having an audience. Then before I do a show I pull all of the requests into one folder where I can sort them by who requested them so I’m ready to perform when I see the person on my concert. The worst part is that I hope these songs will stick with me, but I’m finding that when I try to revisit a song I had just learned a couple months before I often draw a complete blank when I look at my music as to the tempo or melody of the song. Then I have to go back and listen to the song a few times to get it back in my head. With 4000 songs in my main list on my laptop I guess I should expect to not be able to remember a lot of them. I like the challenge though. Most of the songs I learn I never get a fully-polished version, but at least I can get them to an acceptable level where I have the right feel of a song and the character of the performance. The rest is usually chalked up to artistic license, and I forgive myself for not getting it to the level I’d really like since I have a bunch more to learn and I know I won’t retain the song for long. It’s fun going through the process, and I’m thankful for the opportunity. So do you have any requests for my shows this week? 😃


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What have I been up to?


I was able to do a couple live shows online for my senior facilities last week. I finally figured out how to do good shows from my old computer so I can record them as I perform them and make them available for the facility to use for residents who couldn’t be a part of the live performance either because of social distancing rules or because of logistics. This will make my music more accessible and valuable to my facilities, and that’s a good thing. 


My Thursday show doing old cowboy music was really fun, and I think my audience liked it more than they thought they might. I didn’t do a lot of the sadder songs about dying cowboys and tragedies on the cattle drives - there are a lot of those. We still have a lot of cowboy songs I didn’t get to, so we will definitely do another cowboy song night in the future. 


My Sunday favorites show was really enjoyable as always. I continue to enjoy the camaraderie of my audience and their genuine affection for each other and the music. There are always new people along with so many old and new friends, and it becomes a happening every week! You should join us sometime if you haven’t. 


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What am I up to this week?


I only have one senior show to do this week live. I’d like to record a few more things to put up on Facebook and YouTube. I think I said before that I’d like to have good recordings of some of these songs I’m learning in case I never go back to them. My live recordings are usually limited by the streaming quality, and I often don’t have the polish on them I’d have on a focused version of the song. I may just be making more work for myself though. 


My Thursday show 7-8:30 this week will be folk rock songs from the ‘70s. I have featured different artists from this period already, but I have plenty of other songs by people I haven’t gotten to yet in my shows. This will be fun to put together, and it should be a really good show of favorites. Please join me if you can. We are also looking at some really fun themes in the future including Bruce Cockburn, Neil Diamond, ‘60s tunes, folk tunes, more standards, and many more. 


My Sunday show 7-8:30 will be the favorites and requests we have come to love. I can’t believe the variety of songs I have built up for these shows that I still haven’t performed, and I always have at least a dozen new requests each week. Feel free to throw some more at me. And then come to the show to hear them! 


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That’s it for this week. LIfe is sure different lately, but at least I have a focus and am feeling like I’m helping and adding to life and others around me. What more is there?


Best,


Tom


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Details this week:


Who:  Tom Munch 

What:  playing and singing an online concert of folk rock ‘70s songs

Where:  facebook.com/tom.munch and tommunch.com/online-concerts  

When:  Thursday, January 28, 7-8:30 pm mountain time 


Who:  Tom Munch 

What:  playing and singing an online concert of favorites and requests 

Where:  facebook.com/tom.munch and tommunch.com/online-concerts  

When:  Sunday, January 31, 7-8:30 pm mountain time

Monday, January 18, 2021

Aging and COVID

 I wanted to write about how the COVID pandemic is affecting me individually as it relates to aging. My whole career I have been the person who continuously just goes. I have always felt the pressure of what’s next and what’s on my calendar and to-do list. My schedule has been booked for every day for a long time, and I never turn down a gig or an opportunity if I can fit it in. That all changed when COVID came just as I know it did for many of my friends - probably you too. I tried to keep really busy finding new ways to do my job for quite a while - going online as much as I could, and trying to stay connected. But as the months have gone by I’ve realized that things will not be the same when the virus is gone. This year that has been lost has changed my perspective and my approach to the rest of my life. My friend Eileen who is a minister and spiritual teacher has also been teaching a section on growing older, and that has me pondering more than usual as I have been writing song thoughts about the grace and wisdom of age. The older you get the more old age doesn’t seem so old. I’m sure there will come a time when I am reduced physically enough that I’ll need help and will truly feel my age, but for now I am relatively young, and I am at the stage where my experience and life-skills and job-skills have value for the world. I’m settling into a good stage of giving back - seeing where I can help without caring about reciprocal gain. I can wait an extra second for reflection before I jump in, and that makes the helping much more helpful. I can think of others before I think of myself because I am comfortable in who I am and what my purpose is. All these things come with age, and COVID has slowed me down and helped me see this. I’m not quite retired, but my thought is slipping towards it. I’ll always make music, and I love the community that has gathered around me - especially online, but I can see that the driven time of trying to accumulate things and money is passing for me. That’s a good thing. It’s funny how time makes that much more apparent. I’m rambling, but the virus has helped make things clearer in many ways at my age, and I’m thankful for that. How about you? Has it changed your perspective on aging?


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What have I been up to?


My Thursday show online doing Jimmy Buffett songs was great fun! He puts so much energy and spirit in his songs, and it was a real pleasure to share that energy with folks. If you missed it you can catch it on my website or on Facebook - tommunch.com/online-concerts and facebook.com/tom.munch. 


My Sunday online show was a good one too with a whole new mix of songs including some blues and quite a few ‘70s tunes. Again this online community is a treasure and a blessing. 


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What am I up to this week?


I need to make at least one recording for my senior facilities, and one of my facilities has been able to lift their lockdown enough to have small groups that I can sing to live online again. I bought a good webcam so I can finally make videos that are easier to record and upload to the cloud as well as stream. That will help. 


My Thursday 7-8:30 mountain time theme show this week will feature old cowboy songs. I have a real history with these songs going back to when I studied them in college to sing for historical events at museums and at Philmont. I have been told by ranchers that I do them faithfully, and like a good piece of historical fiction there is real value in plugging into someone’s life in another time and place that helps us understand our own lives better. On top of that there are the fun movie-cowboy songs that romanticized the cowboy life, and I’ll do a few of those too. Come on out!


My Sunday show 7-8:30 will be the favorites and requests that I so enjoy playing for folks. It’s been a lot of work learning so many new-to-me songs, but it’s a pleasure connecting with people over a favorite song. I get to see a piece of their life and understand how a song has been a part of them. Please tune in if you can, and send me any requests you’d like me to learn for future weeks.


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That’s it for this week. I hope you are well and relatively happy. We are all learning a lesson in patience and grief as the pandemic stretches on. Someday we will all sit together and reminisce and be closer for it - although it seems so far off now.


Best always,


Tom


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Details this week:


Who:  Tom Munch 

What:  playing and singing an online concert of cowboy songs

Where:  facebook.com/tom.munch and tommunch.com/online-concerts  

When:  Thursday, January 21, 7-8:30 pm mountain time 


Who:  Tom Munch 

What:  playing and singing an online concert of favorites and requests 

Where:  facebook.com/tom.munch and tommunch.com/online-concerts  

When:  Sunday, January 24, 7-8:30 pm mountain time 

Monday, January 11, 2021

Heart's Truth

 I’ve been pondering what happened last week in America and trying to make sense of it. How do we decide for ourselves what is true and what we should believe? There are so many competing ideas vying for our attention. Ultimately it comes down to what we believe in our own hearts and minds. We try to believe in what is rational and provable, but we also want to believe in what is unknowable and somewhat magical. I don’t think anyone is immune to going down a rabbit hole of ideas. I can’t tell you how much fun it is to read stories with different bizarre ideas or watch TV shows and movies that explore different possibilities. I was a big fan of “The X-Files” and so many other shows including science fiction that explored different conspiracies and theories. So how do we decide which of these is true and what we will base our actions on? Going back to the Enlightenment it seems that we have tried to define truth in more concrete ways that are based on observable facts and mathematical reasoning. Most of our world is based on this today, and scientific ideas have led to the development of engineering marvels and the digital age that so dominates our world. Still we want to believe in religion, spiritual, and magical ideas that cannot be proven with scientific tests yet. So how do we balance this? Logically it seems we must educate ourselves enough to understand a good amount of everything so we can make an honest decision on how to lead our lives. That is in theory what our modern education system is based on. Still it seems we have trouble discerning what is important and worth our time - at least I do. So I guess I’m not giving any answers. I believe in most science although I see holes in it sometimes. I’m no scientist although I do read and listen to a lot of it on a weekly basis. I’m not a spiritualist either although I read and listen to a lot of religious and metaphysical content every week. I believe there are some magical things in our lives - music, art, love - that are not explained or understood adequately by anything I’ve read or studied. I hope as we evolve as humans we will find ways that it all fits together. Maybe then we can have more concrete truth that we can all agree on. All I know is that I will continue to give and spread love and joy in the hope that it can make a difference. If we start there then maybe we’ll have the patience with each other to learn and grow together in peace and harmony instead of this strife and division. That is the truth that my heart tells me.


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What have I been up to?


I recorded a bunch of shows for my senior facilities last week. It looks like this is what I’ll be doing for them for a while until they can gather their residents in groups to watch and listen to a live show. This virus is presenting a continuous challenge.


My Thursday show online was full of hopeful songs, and I think it did some good for my listeners. I know it did a lot of good for me.


My Sunday show online was another wonderful warm fire of friends enjoying each other and the music. I can’t believe how sweet these concerts have become. I say it every week, but I am blessed to have such good friends and followers.


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What am I up to this week?


I have a couple recorded shows to do for my senior facilities, and I’d like to do a couple more songs just to post on YouTube. I’m learning so many songs for my Thursday and Sunday concerts, and I should probably save a version on my YouTube page for posterity so I can prove I could actually play these tunes that I’m mostly forgetting once I’ve learned them and performed them.


Thursday 7-8:30 mountain time is my online theme show. This week we’ll do Jimmy Buffet songs since I’m sure we could all use a little break from thoughts of winter. Jimmy really has a sweet flow to his music that really puts folks at ease. Come on out it if you’re a “parrot head” or want to see what his music is all about.


Sunday 7-8:30 mountain time is my favorites and requests show, and I won’t mention again how special these evenings have been. Give a listen if you can. I’d love to see you!


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That’s it for this week. I so want to just wrap everybody in an embrace and hold them until all this division and hatred passes. It’s so hard to see such turmoil and strife.


Best always,


Tom


——


Details this week:


Who:  Tom Munch 

What:  playing and singing an online concert of Jimmy Buffet songs

Where:  facebook.com/tom.munch and tommunch.com/online-concerts  

When:  Thursday, January 14, 7-8:30 pm mountain time 


Who:  Tom Munch 

What:  playing and singing an online concert of favorites and requests 

Where:  facebook.com/tom.munch and tommunch.com/online-concerts  

When:  Sunday, January 17, 7-8:30 pm mountain time 

Monday, January 4, 2021

Hopeful

I’m writing today about starting the new year with hope. As you know I try to always see the world every day with a fresh eye and a nod towards the benefit of the doubt. It’s an interesting thing whether people believe in inherent goodness or inherent  ill-will. I believe the world is what you make it even when you’re given a bad situation. I think we often justify our bad actions by believing that people will behave badly if they are given the chance. It’s an issue of trust that is based on the conscious decision to see the world with love and not with fear. I write these thoughts quite often, but I truly believe them, and it’s what I base my decisions on every day. Life is just so much better when we approach it this way - regardless of religious beliefs or stature. And so I’m approaching this year in this frame of mind, and my show Thursday will be all about songs that express this view of life. 


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What have I been up to?


I recorded a couple shows for my senior facilities last week. Many of them are full of COVID, and it’s a very tense time trying to keep everyone healthy until they can get the vaccines distributed for the virus. 


My New Year’s Eve show last Thursday was great fun with a bunch of rock and roll songs played on electric guitar. I think we rang in the new year right!


Sunday night’s show was a wonderful ride of songs and good friends. I say it every week, but we have really created something special that I’d love for folks to be a part of. There is so much genuine joy and good spirits between folks, and it has become a safe space for everyone. 


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What am I up to this week?


I’m recording shows for my senior facilities as always until we get through the virus. It has been a technological scramble for many of my folks and facilities to make it all work, but it really seems to help, and I’m glad to be able to help. 


Thursday 7-8:30 mountain time my online show will be the hopeful songs I mentioned above. Folks are sending me some great requests, and I think this will be a night to remember. Come on out and take part if it sounds good to you. 


Sunday 7-8:30 mountain time will be my favorites and requests show as always. I said it above, but I really cherish these opportunities to share some great music and camaraderie with such a sweet group of folks. You’re always welcome.


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That’s it for this week. I hope you’re faring well with the virus and all the precautions. The new strain of virus is making it even more important to stay the course and not let our guard down. Please be safe and try to keep upbeat in the face of all the turmoil. We will make it though one way or the other. 


Best always,


Tom


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Details this week:


Who:  Tom Munch 

What:  playing and singing an online concert of hopeful songs

Where:  facebook.com/tom.munch and tommunch.com/online-concerts  

When:  Thursday, January 7, 7-8:30 pm mountain time 


Who:  Tom Munch 

What:  playing and singing an online concert of favorites and requests 

Where:  facebook.com/tom.munch and tommunch.com/online-concerts  

When:  Sunday, January 10, 7-8:30 pm mountain time